Laminated pile-fabric shoe sole



g 31., l93- A., E. MURRAY 2,918,455

LAIINATED PILE-FABRIC SHOE SOLE u Filed supp. zo', 1944 INVENTOR filari E. Marra nieuwe Aug. 31, 194s UNITED STATES LAMINATED PILE-FABRIC SHOE SOLE Alan E. Murray, W

Y on, Del.

Appllcatimfseptember 20. I9 ,4, Serial No. 555,005

4 Claims. (Cl. 36-30) Myinventlon relates particularly toA shoe lsole elements.

'I'he object of my invention is to provide a new shoe sole. Another obiect is to provide shoe soles which can be eiectively applied to the under-portions oi' shoes having diiierent contours and which are especially applicable in making the soles of shoes, theibottoms of which are convex transversely and longitudinally, as for instance by applying my` new shoe sole elementsto the bottoms ofthe shoes or foot supports shown, for example, in my Patent No. 2,332,000,` dated October 19, 1943, upon Method oi' manufacturing shoes, or in my copending application Ser. No. 508,705, upon Footwear, tiled November `2, 1943, now Patent Number 2,404,083, granted July 16, 1946. However, it will be understood that my shoe sole elements may be applied, also, for making flat shoe soles, if desired. A further object is to provide shoe soles which, because of their construction, have a greatly increased length of wear. -Another object is to provide soles which may be made of a plurality of layers. which, by reason. of the characteristics of the adjacent surfaces,l become effectively interlocked to make an integral sole, which is flexible but which has an extraordinary degree of strength,

and which will not crack under the most exacting use thereof. Another object is to enable shoe soles to be made with these materials, having conformations of any desired character but without in any way changing or tending to alter the shape of the shoes to which they are applied. Further objects of my invention will appear from the detailed description ci. the same hereinafter.

While my invention is capable of being carried out in many diiierent ways, for the purpose of illustration I have shown only certain'forms of my invention in the accompanying drawings, in which- I Fig. I is a side elevation of a shoe made in ac- I cordance with my Patent No. 2,332,000 aforesaid,

shown as having applied thereto, at the bottom thereof, the shoe sole elements of the present application with a convex curvature, longitudinallly and transversely;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section of a. portion of said shoe, showing the shoe sole of the present application, applied thereto; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a. layer lof terry cloth in which the loops thereof are embedded in or coated withHrubber-like coating materials, the same being shown adjacent to and interlocking with like loops of another layer of terry cloth embedded `in a like element forming an integral composite sole in accordance with my invention.

4Referring to the drawings, I have shown in Fig. 1 a shoe I made in accordance with my Patent No. 2,332,000 above referred to, the undersurface of which has a sole support 2 which is convex longitudinally of the shoe, as shown in Fig. 1, and which is also convex transversely of the shoe, as shown in Fig. 2. In order-to build up a sole on a shoe in accordance with my present invention, I may place the shoe l, provided with sole support 2, over a sheet of woven or felted fabric having a looped pile, as for instance a terry cloth 3, having upwardly extending pile' loops 4 and downwardly extending .pile loops 5 forming the warp threads of the bres which are extended around weft threads` 6. The layer of terry cloth 3 is then cut out with an outer margin extending slightly, for example 1A, `beyond the outer margin of the shoe entirely around the same. One or more additional layers of terry cloth 1 are then cut out in the same way, and if heel pieces are to be applied to form a raised portion or heel underl the shoe, any number of `pieces of terry cloth 8 are cut having the same lAf'fmargin as compared with the contours of the heel portion of the shoe. The shoe I is then turned up-side-down and sole support 2 is roughened with a Wire brush, and the sole portion 2, which points upwardly in a level position, is primed with a coating of a rubberlike material, as for instance latex, Aby which I mean'to include a self-vulcanizing or pre-vulcanized or vulcanizable liquid synthetic rubber,` of neoprene or of voltex or of natural rubber.

into a flexile hard mass after standing for a short period of time, when exposed to the air. 4 The one or more sole pieces 3 and 'l 'and alsoth'fone or more heel pieces 8 are then impregnated'with the same liquid and hung up forabout 3 tof4fminutes to allow the excess liquid to drip off, or the excess liquid can be pressed out of the same'by a slight pressure applied in any desiredway. The sole pieces 3 and las well as the heel pieces 8 thus initially become completelyl embedded in the neoprene, or other rubber-like material, so that the loops` 4 and 5 thereof hold within thesame a relatively large amount ofthe neoprene etc.

The sole pieces 3 and 1, while still wet and While the liquid still unset, and which may be Vof any desired number, are then applied over the sole support 2 of the shoe, one after another, after out in this Way` brushing up the surfaces of said sole pieces to free the coated loops from the embedded body portions of the fabric, while still wet, and are pressed down onto the shoe, one after another, with the aid of a spatula, so as to conform the fabric Ato the longitudinal as well as the transverse curvatures of the shoe and so as to cause the loops l and of the respective layers of the terry cloth to become interspersed and interlocked with one another on the adjacent surfaces of the layers of terry cloth and so that the series of loops 4 contiguous to the side support 2 be come anchored in the adjacent rough surface of the shoe sole support 2. In this way the loops I and 5 of the adjacent layers of terry cloth become interlocked with each other and with the roughened surface of the shoe and the pressure with the spatula serves also to expel any air bubbles that may have been present. The heel pieces 8, preferably three in number, are wet in the same way and applied while wet and with the loops roughed up, in the same Way. Also, if desired, small pieces of shims of terry cloth, impregnated and with the loops roughed up in the same way, and which may be of any size and shape, but, for example, narrower than the layers 3 and 1, may be placed at any desired position between or on the respective sole layers 3 and 1 to relatively elevate any desired portion of theA shoe to which they may be applied. Also, at any time in the application of these sole or heel layers, individually or collectively, to the 'shoe as well as in the case of the application of the shims, and while holding the shoe inverted in a level position, additional amounts of the said rubberdike liquid, such as latex," may be applied to different portions of the impregnated terry cloth being applied to the shoe in order to supply more of the liquid latex thereto as desired. When the liquid latex has begun to set the outside of the composite sole and heel may have a brush applied thereto to elevate the individual outside loops of the terry cloth into a substantially vertical position, that is to say at right angles to the body of the sole, so that they will project outwardly from the sole while the threads of the loops are individually entirely encased in the rubber-like material, such as neoprene, and while the inner portions of the threads of the loops remain emb'edded ina solid body of the rubber-like material, but in suena manner as to leave the upper or outer coated portions of the loops extending outwardly from the main solid body of .the "neoprene, etc. As pointed out above, when plural layers of the fabric are used to form the sole or heel, this brushing up of the loops with a brush is preferably carried out, also, on the adjacent faces of the different layers of terry cloth before the "neoprene has been set, thereby more effectively locking the loops of the adjacent surfaces of the fabric together. When the liquid has substantially entirely set the excess marginal por- Itions of the layers 3, 1 and 8 are trimmed oil' with The outwardly extending impregnated or encased loops of the terry cloth serve to locate the la curved scissors and the edges smoothed down.

major portion of the wear on the outer ends of the f position than might be the case with merely a straight pile. Furthermore, in applying shoe sole materials in this way the shoe sole ymaterial will effectively go around and fit any conformation of the shoe sole support, as for instance so as to form a deep crown and without any mutilation of the shape of the shoe, but can be efl'ectively applied, if desired, in a fiat position. Also, the shoe sole materials can be-thus formed and applied in any of these various shapes or positions while obtaining a uniform tension throughout, thus avoiding differences in'length of wear of the sole.

previously has been found to be a very serious problem in any multi-layer artificial sole. Also, the shoe sole thus formed has a great elasticity and a uniform cushioning effect. Such shoe soles, also, are readily repairable, merely by further roughening the old surface with a wire brush and applying a priming layer of neoprene, latex etc., as above, and then applying over the same one or more layers of the terry cloth impregnated as above and in the same manner as previously described.

Of course it will be understood that different weights of terry cloth can be used. Also, it will be understood that the neoprene, latex or any of the other liquids above referred to, irrespective of the amount of water present, may be thickened by the addition thereto, in any desired amount, of starch or Wood our or any other inert thickening material, as for instance in an amount of approximately 5% by weight of the thickening material to of the liquid, although any other proportions may be used if desired. Also, it will be understood that thinner or thicker latex liquids may be used, for instance, according to the The shoe sole thus formed has been found to entirely avoid any tendency to crack. This amount of Water present therein, and that, for

instance, the latex priming coat and the latex with which the-layers of terry cloth are saturated initially may be a thinner latex than the latex finally used, as above described, after the one or more layers of terry cloth have been applied to the shoe and whenever the additional v"latex is found to be desirable to be added in the course of producing the sole and heel before the liquid in the sole and heel has entirely set. Furlthermore, while the sole support 2 of the shoe shown in Fig. 1, and as described in my said Patent No. 2,332,000, may be a composition con# taining latex thickened with wood flour and sisal, it will be understood that my new sole, with or without the heel, both of which are herein described in detail, may alternatively be applied to any leather sole surface, whether curved longitudinally and transversely or having any other curvature, flat or otherwise. In other words, my terry cloth sole, with or without the heel above described, may be applied to an outer leather sole, which may be carried by the sole support 2, as described in said Patent No. 2,332,000.

While I have described my invention above in detail I wish it to be understood that many changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the same.

I claim:

1. A shoe sole comprising an outer layer oi' fabric having a body portion impregnated with a rubber-like material and pile loops impregnated with similar material but standing out from the outer surface of the impregnated body portion separately from one another, and an inner layer of similar impregnated fabric having impregnated pile loops interlocked with the impregnated material but standing out from the outer surface of the impregnated body portion separately from one another, and an inner layer of similar impregnated fabric v*having impregnated pile loops interlocked with the impregnated pile loops of the adjacent surface of the outer layer.

v3. A shoe sole comprising an outer layer of fabric having a body portion impregnated with a rubber-like material and pile loops impregnated and encased with similar material but standing lout; from the outer surface of the impregnated body portion, and' from each other, lseparately from one another, and an inner layer of similar impregnated and encased fabric having impregnated pile loops interlocked with the impregnated i pile loops of the adjacent surface of the outer layer.

4. A shoe sole comprising an outer layer of terry cloth with pile loops on both faces. having a body portion impregnated and encased with a rubber-like material and pile loops impregnated with similar materialV but standing out from the outer surface of the impregnated body portion, and from each other, separately from one anand encased fabric having impregnated pile loops interlocked with the impregnated pile loops .of the adjacent surface of the outer layer.

r ALANE. MURRAY.

-namENcEs 4c rrlm Y The following references are of record in the flle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 371,657 Adams Oct. 8, 1887 1,347,775 Burr et al July 27, 1920 15 2,050,751 Enos Aug, 11, 1936 2,071,725 Bickford Feb..23, 1937 2,121,678 Armor June 21, 1938 2,332,000 Murray Oct. 19, 1943 2,333,303 Enos Nov. 2, 1943 20 2,364,134 Dow Dec. 5, 1944 2,393,433 VBoske Jan. 22, 1946 2,400,487 Clark May 21, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 25 Number Country Date 17,291 Denmark May 13, 1913 379,596 Great Britain Sept. 1, 1932 391,101 Great Britain July 16, 1931 408,697

other, and an inner layer of similar impregnated Great Britain 1---..-- Feb. 26, 1934 

